The Penn's Grove record., 1887-11-05
On Frugal Diet,

Sh ABttt
Cyrus, King Of Persia, according to
Xenophon, was brought up on q diet
of water, bread and crosses, till up to
his 18th year, when honey and raisins
were added; and the family names of
Fabii and Lentuli, among the Romans,
were derived from their customary
and possibly exclusive diet Of beans
and lentils. Eggs and apples. with a
little bread, were for centuries the
alpha and omega Of a Roman dinner,
and, In earlier times, even bread and
turnips, If not turnips alone, which
the patriot Cincinnatus thought suf-
ficient for his wants. 1t is singular
that our temperance societies direct
the. efforts only against the fluid part
of our diet; q league OF temperate
eaters would certainly find a large
field for reform. But In Italy the
thing was attempted by a Venetian
nobleman Of the fifteenth century, who
restricted himself to a daily allowance
of ten ounces of solid food, and six
ounces of wine, and prolonged his life
to 1O2 years. Though he did not or
ganize his followers into q society,
his example and his voluminous writ
ings influenced the manners of his
country for many years. He would
not have gained many members in
Russia and Germany; but throughout
Southern Europe frugality, in the truest
old Latin sense, is by no means rare.
Lacour, a Marseilles 'longsh0reman,
earned from 10 to 20 francs a day,
loaned money on interest, and gave
aims, but slept at night in his basket,
and subslsted on IA onions a day,
which preserved him in excellent
health and humor. A pound OF bread
with six ounces of poor cheese, and
such berries as the roadside may
offer, constitute the daily rations OF
the Turkish soldier on the march. A
correspondent Of a London paper was
served with a dish Of radishes In a Cat
alon tavern, in SPAN, and ventured to
remark that radishes were taken after
meals In Northern Europe. "YOu can
get some more after finishing these"
was the reply. The radlshes c0nsti-
tuted the dinner.
Not that men should, but that they
can live on bread alone, Is abundantly
proved by the records Of the Old World
prisons. Silvlo Pellico, the Italian pa
triot, subsisted for seven years on
coarse, rye bread and water, which ex-
perience had taught him to prefer to
the putrid pork soup Of his Austrian
bastile. The prisoners of the Khedive
were fed on rice and Indian corn, till
the prayers of the French residents and
his American officers induced him to
sweeten their bitter lot by a weekly
bottle Of diluted molasses.
Fedor Darapski, born in 1774, In
Eastern Poland, was brought to the
government of Novgorod In his twenty
second year as a conscript to the Rus
sian army, and was soon after sent
enced to death for mutiny and assault
with intent to kill. The Empress
Catherine, acting Oh a recommends
ton Of the Governor Of N0vgor0d,
committed his sentence to imprison-
ment for life. but ordered that on every
anniversary OF the deed, ian attempt
to kill his colonel), the convict should
receive forty lashes and be kept on half
rations for a week after; the full ration
being two pounds of black bread and a
Jug Of cold water. On these terms
Darapski was boarded till 1868, when
at the approach Of his ninetieth birth
day he was again recommended to
mercy, and liberated by order Of the
late Gar.
Even the story of Nebuchadnezzar
may be more than an allegOry, as the
wild berries, roots, and grass seeds Of
the Assyrian valleys contained surely
as much nourishment as sour rye
bread, and who knows but grass itself
might do for a while, since the Slavon-
ian peasants often subsist for weeks at
a time on sauer cr0ut and cabbage
soup.
Corsican farmers live all winter on
dried fruit and chestnut meal, and the
Moors of medi@val Spain used to pro-
vision their fortified cities with chest.
nuts and olive oil. During the siege
of Lucknow the native soldiers asked
that the little rice left be given to
their British comrades; IS for them
selves, they could dc with the soup,
1. e., the water In which the rice bad
been boiledt
The most remarkable cas- of absti-
nence, combined with robust strength,
is furnished in the record Of Shamyl,
the heroic Circassian, who for the last
year of the war that ended with his
capture, had nothing but water for his
drink and roasted beechnuts for his
food, and yet month after month he
deied the power OF the great Russian
Empire / n his native mountains, and
repeatedly cut bis way through the
ranks Of his would-be captors with the
arm of o Hercules.